Hen no longer walking, what am I overlooking?

[MargieandMagic]

Polish x hen, approx 6 months old as of June 2020. Has started to lay one egg a day. She was given to me about 3 months ago, I quarantined her for 21 days and introduced her to my flock. No issues, no one picks on her. Her left leg has crooked toes that weren't fixed as a chick. Due to her toes she has never roamed far from the hen house but she has always been very agile and active.

Originally the toes never seemed to cause any pain or affect her balance so I figured I would keep her but never breed her. Two nights ago that stopped, she didn't leave the hen house all day and avoided the hens and the full feeders at night. I thought she was egg bound at first but that is not the case, I know this because I isolated her 2 nights ago and as of the following morning there were fresh droppings in her cage. The droppings were well within the normal range of chicken poop and her bum is clean.

My next thought is that she is just broody. She sits with her bum up like a broody hen but she is not making any noises like a broody hen. So I took her outside today and closed off the coop so she couldn't get in to nest. She kicked and tried to squirm out of my grasp like she usually does but as soon as I set her on the ground she just flopped over on her left side. I tried putting her in some other areas and she didn't even try to move. At one point my mini pig surprised her and she ran off but not very far and once again flopped down on her left side, the side with the bad toes.

She has no visible injuries and no external parasites. No one else in my flock is exhibiting any symptoms or has any external parasites. My thought is that her curled toes are painful and she has grown to a point where they can no longer support her weight which is why she is falling down and doesn't want to walk. However I am not very experienced and my flock has been pretty drama free so if there is a way I can help I absolutely would!

Am I overlooking something???

 

[Duckpooper]

One of my ducks were also born with crooked toes, but he walks normally other than a little more wobble. She might have bumblefoot, which causes pain to their feet and could make it difficult for them to walk. Does she have any black or brown looking scabs on the bottom of her foot?

 

[MargieandMagic]

One of my ducks were also born with crooked toes, but he walks normally other than a little more wobble. She might have bumblefoot, which causes pain to their feet and could make it difficult for them to walk. Does she have any black or brown looking scabs on the bottom of her foot?

The bottoms of her feet are healthy looking, no scabs.

 

[MargieandMagic]

This is how I keep finding her sitting, leaning against something with her left side and tilted forward with her bum up.

 

[Duckpooper]

This is how I keep finding her sitting, leaning against something with her left side and tilted forward with her bum up.

I'm not quite sure what could be wrong with her. Do both of her legs look/feel the same from the rest of the flock?
Here's a website on different types of causes of leg lameness:
https://thisnzlife.co.nz/odd-reasons-your-chicken-might-be-lame/

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry about your pullet. It sounds unfortunately like she could possibly have Mareks disease. I hope not. Do you know if she was vaccinated? You could try some chick vitamins that have riboflavin, in case of a rinoflavin deficiency. A chicken sling might be good to place her in if she will tolerate it, to get her upright and in front of food and water. Here is a thread with examples:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/versions-of-chick-chairs-please.1166308/

 

[MargieandMagic]

I'm not quite sure what could be wrong with her. Do both of her legs look/feel the same from the rest of the flock?
Here's a website on different types of causes of leg lameness:
https://thisnzlife.co.nz/odd-reasons-your-chicken-might-be-lame/

Thank you so much for sharing that article. I read the entire thing, had to google a bunch of terms/symptoms that I am unfamiliar with. Nothing seems to match enough to help me pick a treatment direction. Her legs look perfectly healthy as do the legs of my other chickens.

I can't find the article again, but as I've been doing research this afternoon I came across a little blurb in a blog that someone had a hen that tilted forward like she is in the photo when their hen was egg bound with a SOFT shell egg. I was going to try a epsom salt bath next.

Do you think it is possible that her curly toes/bad leg are the issue and she has just grown too big to support herself and may be in pain?

 

[MargieandMagic]

Sorry about your pullet. It sounds unfortunately like she could possibly have Mareks disease. I hope not. Do you know if she was vaccinated? You could try some chick vitamins that have riboflavin, in case of a rinoflavin deficiency. A chicken sling might be good to place her in if she will tolerate it, to get her upright and in front of food and water. Here is a thread with examples:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/versions-of-chick-chairs-please.1166308/

I don't know much about her history but I doubt she was vaccinated. I'll run to the store and get her chick vitamins because I would prefer to be safe than sorry. I don't know how quickly marek's disease presents itself but she doesn't have any paralysis or any other symptoms. When I pick her up her toes curl still curl as they should in a healthy chicken.

 

[Eggcessive]

Is she moving her legs equally well? Does she have balance issues? Does she ever lie with one leg forward with the other under her or in back? I hope I am wrong about Mareks. But flopping on her side might be a symptom,and she is at an age where it can show up. Here is a good article about Mareks:
http://csu-cvmbs.colostate.edu/Documents/vdl-mareks-disease-fact-sheet.pdf

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq.66077/

 

[MargieandMagic]

Is she moving her legs equally well? Does she have balance issues? Does she ever lie with one leg forward with the other under her or in back? I hope I am wrong about Mareks. But flopping on her side might be a symptom,and she is at an age where it can show up. Here is a good article about Mareks:
http://csu-cvmbs.colostate.edu/Documents/vdl-mareks-disease-fact-sheet.pdf

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-great-big-giant-mareks-disease-faq.66077/

Yes, she can move her legs equally well, she does have a balance issue but its only/always on her left side where she has the badly curled toes. No, the way that she is sitting pictured in one of my posts above is the ONLY way I have ever seen her sit since this started (about 48 hours ago) and both her legs are directly under her in a normal position.

I'm at a complete loss the tilted sitting and not interested in walking are the only symptoms I am seeing. Absolutely nothing else, her poo is still in the healthy range.